International Barents Secretariat

The purpose of the International Barents Secretariat (IBS) is to support the multilateral activities within the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and the Barents Regional Council.

The IBS aims to increase and secure the coherence and efficiency of the Barents cooperation. To this end, the IBS assists the biannually rotating governmental and regional Chairs in their tasks and thus guarantees the seamless continuity of the cooperation. Also, the IBS supports the Barents Working Groups. The IBS maintains the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and the Barents Regional Council archives and serves as an information database, as well as maintains contacts with other organisations and stakeholders operating in the Barents and Arctic regions, the national and regional authorities of the Member States and the media.

The Agreement on the Establishment of the International Barents Secretariat was signed in the 11th BEAC Ministerial session on 15 November 2007 in Rovaniemi. Take a look at our other core documents here and the IBS Annual Report 2019 here.